This monologue on monograms is for men who wear their initials on their shirts, or are thinking about doing so. It’s not intended for men who wear the initials of a shirt designer on their shirts, for they are not yet ready.

It’s said that shirt monograms were first used by men to identify their shirts in the laundry. At the time most shirts were white and looked alike, so some form of identification was a necessity then just as it is today. After all, when a shirt doesn’t have identification, the laundry applies its own mark, and that’s usually something fairly unattractive. So monogrammed shirts serve a very practical function, one that is generally available only to men who have shirts made for themselves, as all dress shirt wearing men should.

A monogram of course is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters to form a single symbol (a series of uncombined initials, such as my own initials on the shirt in the photograph, is properly referred to as a cypher rather than a monogram, but most of us fail to distinguish between the two).

Now since a shirt’s wearer presumeably knows who he is, we can ask ourselves who an identifying monogram might be intended for if it’s not for the laundry. And the only conceivable answer is vanity. Which is why monograms should be placed out of sight, where the laundry can see them but not casual observers. The best location to my mind is inside the collar. Another that’s barely acceptable is the lower left shirt front, below where the pocket would be if there was one (and of course there isn’t). Initials there are covered by a man’s jacket, and if he doesn’t wear one all the time he shouldn’t have his shirts monogrammed on his shirt front.

There is a reason for this discretion, and it’s fairly simple. No-one will ever think less of a man for not having a monogrammed shirt, but there is a significant portion of the population that will think a visible monogram is showing off. Wise men who monogram do so out of sight. Re-posted from the ASW site.

This is Jerome Mage of Magedesign . Known as “J-man” to some, “Mage-threat” to others…to me he is just “J”. As a long time friend and a former studio mate, I can personally vouch for his good style, he wears it well even for a Parisian. You may see him around town in his usual dandy sort of style, YSL button down, YSL jeans or maybe Helmut Lang? – along with some bespoke shoes and a hat. J is a great designer, and what’s even better is that we share an affinity for American muscle cars, (he drives a new Ford Mustang.) He also likes Reagan (as seen here posing along side this Reagan sticker on what looks to be an old Jaguar at the Grove…Here-here Jerome!…you might be French, but you want to be American.

Just got back from the Sunday night Chargers game against the Denver Broncos. Just wanted to give them a big ups on making it to the playoffs . They definitely showed heart last night and it took them awhile to get back to that point but im looking forward for next weeks game against the colts.

Raymond Pettibon does sick ass art. He was the man behind most all of the notorious Black Flag posters and album covers. He was a huge contributor of SST records way back. His work basically can symbolize the mindset of the punk movement in the 70s and 80s. His signature style is black and white images, usually done with just simple ink on paper. His art is really messed up… But it is really awesome.

Here’s a postcard I was given that was shipped from japan. The old concert promotion posters he did were so rad. Completely anti-authoritarian. This is one of my prized possessions…

On Sunday night, I had the pleasure of seeing piano virtuoso Otto Ehling perform at the Jazz Bakery here in LA. The performance was nothing short of spectacular, Otto played to a packed house and proceeded to give Ludwig shout outs and shameless plugs in between sets; at one point he even credited the Ludwig Bach shirt he was wearing for his awesome performance, and proceeded to direct people to the website lol.It was so refreshing to take in some good live music,and see someone so young perform with such ease and execute it so well. It goes without saying that we here at Ludwig are fans of music, as long as talented people like Otto are around we will always continue to support them. Thanks for the love brother!

Well folks, after a year in the making, All the hard work paid off. I just received my advance copies of the Matix 10 year anniversary book titled, “This Is Progress”. With contributions from some of the most important figures in Skateboarding, Snowboarding and Surfing. I’m beside myself at how insane these turned out. After a year in the process, the design, the asset cultivation, the writing, it’s finally complete. This is one of the most legitimate books i have ever seen! – look out for this in finer bookstores nationwide this spring! A big thank you to all the contributors…Richie Knapp, Marc Johnson, Rick McCrank, Daewon Song, Rodney, Colin Kennedy, Paul Park, Anthony Acosta, Giovanni Reda, Mikey LeBlanc, Rudy Johnson, Mike Gomez, Tim Gavin, Tony Evjenth, Gabe Clement, Brandy Faber, Ricky Melnik, Lana Cretz, Kelly Gavin, Tanya Carrao, Luis Cruz, John Fitisimanu, etc, etc, and last but most important, Brian Dunlap, and the Dunlap family. Looking forward to the release party!

Box that they arrived in…

The insane green paper in the bubble wrap!

Oh shit! – check the bling on that title!

Dammmm. and this is the Limited Ed. RED cover. (only 100 of these)

Photos from the Paul Park chapter… my personal fav.

Too legit to quit! – This Is Progress.

This is the “Tangram Study” DVD directed by Colin… this is just insane.

I have to hand it to BUSH. If you ever doubted his athleticism, now is proof that he is “the real deal” as he does his best impression of Floyd Mayweather slipping a jab, when he dodges not one shoe, but two! Both were thrown at high-velocity, and at short range. I was impressed, even though i would have liked them to land on the kisser, i was taken by Bush’s nimble duck, nice one BUSH!… Muntather Zaidi (the reporter who chucked both of his shoes, is now an Iraqi hero, and rightly so.) Sorry about your luck my man…BUSH is the ‘Teflon Don’. Check the video below.